Improvement in seed-planters and cultivators



C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL W. SHARES, OF HAMDEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEED-PLANTERS AND CULTIVATORS.

' Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. I 2,075, datedDecember 12, 1854.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL W. SHARES, of Hamden, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Covering and Boeing Machines, of which the following is afull, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to theaccompanyingdrawings, which form part of this specification, and inwhich- Figure 1 represents a top view or plan of the machine, and Fig.2a side view or elevation of the same.

The machine represented in the accompanying drawings is designed to beused at time of planting and for aftcr-hoeing potatoes, corn,

and other vegetables, seed, or grain sown in drills. 4

It consists, in part, of two wings or shoes, a, diverging from a pointin the rear on either side of the center line of draft, the machinetraveling as indicated by the arrow as in Fig. 1, the draft pole orperch bbeingin the center and one shoe a bein-gdrawn by horse or cattleon each side of the row. These shoes a, which present an openorflaringspace between them in front, are hinged together by a joint, 0,at their back, to admit of shoes being more or less contracted orexpanded horizontally, to vary their width apart or angle of divergencefrom each other; and, further, the shoes at are so hung to or connectedwith the backhinge, c, and are otherwise so connected to the frame orbraces d d of the machine as to admit of the shoes to having a universaladjustment to suit their action to various conditions of the soil,accordingly as it is loose or heavy and according totheamountof earththe shoes or wings are required to gather and throw up,

&c.--as, for instance, the shoes a, as before specified, are by the backjoint, 0, made capabio of expansion or contraction horizontally, to givethe required shape to the hill or row and vary their action to any widthof hill or row apart; and by hanging the shoes a loose-' 1y, so thatthey may turn on rods 0, projecting horizontally or at right angles fromthe back joint, 0, of which they form the extension-bars that connectthe shoes with the back hinge, the shoes a may have their angular setfrom the horizontal position varied, so as to cut into the soil more orlessobliquely, and their depth of entrance into the soil varied to suitvarious 'widths or sets of the shoes apart, different kinds of earth, orvary the amount of soilthey should throw up over the hill or row, and tosuit different shapes or sizes of hills or rows, 850., the shoes toalways being set so as to diverge more or less upward from each other ontheir plowing or covering surfaces, and in this respect and in theirangle or direction of horizontal divergence they are set in an'oppositemanner to those corn-plows that are provided with expanding andcontracting wings or scrapers diverging backward and that scatter theearth on either side of each adjoiningrow,whiletheshoesainthismachinegathertheearth between them as themachinetravels forward and cover the earth over each hill or row on bothsides of it simultaneously, thereby insuring the loose earth beingheaped over the center and equally on eithersideof therow, which is notthe case in the plows I refer to, as the wings in them, according to thenature or condition of the soil and velocity of the plows travel, areapt to throw the earth unequally and improperly over the rows, and insuch the expansion and contraction of the wings insure no certainty ofthe proper distribution of the soil,

and is only designed to suit the general action,

of the wings to various widths of the rows apart; but the specifiedadjustability of the shoes at in my machine insuresa certain alteredshape to the hill or row and gives it Without fail the required widthand form.

The lower edges of the shoes 0 are of suit-' able configuration at theirback to give the proper shape to the hill or row, while at their frontthey are'shaped to insure an easy and gradual entrance into the soil,and of such intermediate configuration as to take the proper hold andlift upon the soil to heapitup against or over the rows. When adjustedto their required set, as provided by their universal connection, asspecified, the shoes at are securely held by boltsf, passing through anyone of a series of holes in the front brace, d, on either side or end,and through one of aseries of apertures, s, in an arm, g, projectingfrom either shoe on the outside, and fitting through a slot, h, neareither end of the front brace. Wedges m are passed through loops on theshoes to tighten the braces d d down on the shoes. The draft pole orperch b is suitably connected to the front brace, and plow-handles Ir,to guide.

the machine, unite by their supports the fore and aft braces, 01 d,together.

Projecting from the front brace, 01, underneath it, and extended anddipped backward, is a flattening-plate, I, that follows in the wake ofthe covering portions of the shoes,and that serves slightly to smoothenor level the top of the hill or row, to give the hill or row a neat andsubstantial finish. This plate is removed in the after-hoeing of thepotatoes or other vegetables by the machine, as they, in growing, arecoming out of the ground, in order that the shoes a may throw a coveringof loose or light earth over the potatoes, which will serve tostrengthen their growth and to kill the weeds. 850. Thus the mostperfect covering and hoeing may be accomplished by my machine, and thatin the most expeditious manner.

I do not claim in themselves as new expanding and contracting hoeingwings or scrapers, as these have before been used; but

What I do claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is'- 1. Connecting the wings or shoes a to each other and to theframe of the machine in such manner that they are made capable ofuniversal adjustment, by hanging them so that they may be turned onextension bars or rods, 6, projecting horizontally from the rear hinge,0, and uniting them together, or otherwise equivalently hanging andconnecting them, so that the wings or shoes may not only be expanded orcontracted to vary their width apart, but may also have their depth ofentry into the ground and angular set in direction of their depth variedto suit various widths of the wings apart and various conditions of thesoil or other controlling circumstances, substantially as specified.

2. The arrangementof the leveling or finishing plate 1, operating inrear of the covering portions of the wings to slightly flatten the topsof the rows and give a neat and substantial finish to them, as setforth;

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

. DANIEL W. SHARES.

Witnesses:

DAVID B. 0001;

HORACE P. SHARES.

